Electric toaster.



W. S. ANDREWS.

ELBGTBIC TOASTER.

urmonron FILED nov. su, 190s.

936,597. Patented ocn.12,19o9.

TTY

Y s m ,5 n HLLIAM 5.' zsmHEWs/ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM S. ANDREWS, 0F SCHENEGTADY, NEW DK, ASSIGNOB T0 GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

ELECTRIC TOASTEB.

Bpeeioation of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

Application led November 2l., 180B. Serial Ho. 463,748.

" radiant heat. This is especially the case in toasting or broiling, where it is the custom to place the material (bread or meat) before an incandescent lire. the high heat quickly drying the surface und browning the toast, or

searing the outside of the steak. and thereby retaining wlthln the same thc juices of the meat..

The invention in the lpresent application is especially designed wit reference to the npplication of toasting bread; but might also be applied to broiling steak without material change in the design.

In carryin out my invention I provide a source of ra mnt heat. for which purpose I may employ a heating unit of the same general character as described in my prior a plication, Xo. 438.101. filed January 1.)t 1903. This heating unit comprises two tubes nt' fused silica, one within the other, the inner one being wound with a high resistance wire of refractory metal and acting as a support for the wire. and the outer one being mounted on n threaded base and afterward secured in a socket in the base of the apparatus, the socket bein provided with leads connected in parallelv with the h' h resistance wires forming the heating eements and leading to terminals. A plurality of tubes of this character are mounted upright in the supporting base and inclosed within an o )en wire cage to prevent contact of the clothing of the operator with the heating tubes. On the sides of this cake are pivoted open work wire frames adapted to be folded to and from the tube inclosing cage, and constitutin baskets in which bread, or any other material to be o erated upon, may be subjected for the cooking operation.

One of the features of my structure involves the open work cage for supporting the material to be operated upon in proper relation to the inclosed source of radiant heat. In my rior application, above referred to. I applied3 this material in a super sed horizontal ositon with relation to the source of ra iant heat, in the resent invention I apply it in a vertical ation thereto, and this arrangement has several advantages, the most important of which is, es-

pecally for toasting and broling. that up ward currents of air are created. which carri oli' the gases and conduce to a better product. In addition to this. the circulation of air keeps the inclosing cage at a lower temper-.1t nre and renders the apparatus more convenient to manipulate. By means of this structure I may apply to the o en work basket formed by the central fixed rame and the foldinur frames two piecesl of bread, the sides of wliich adjacent to the source of heat may be toasted at the same time. and which may be readily removed when the toasting operation reaches the proper stage and rei v ersed in position for treatment o? the other t side of the bread.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate my invention. Fi ure 1 is a perspective view of a toaster em dying my improvements; Fig. '2 is a diagrammatic View, showing the service connections with the heating tubes; Fig. 3 a detail view, showing the method of mount-ing the folding wire frames; Fig. l is a sectional view, showing the relation of thc fixed and movable arts of the folding frame, and Fig. 5 is a detail, showing the method of mounting the heating units.

Referring more particularlv to the drawi1 es, 1 represents a bam made of any sultabe ireproof insulating material, such as porcelain, slate, or lireproof molded matel-iai, in which are provided along a central line u number of o enings, in which are mounted metallic soc ets 2 to receive a plurality of heating tubes 3. Around these tubes is an open wire work frame, consisting of a number of inverted U-shaped wires 4, the lower end of which are lirm y secured to two horizontal wires 5 and 5 mounted in metal yokes 6, 6, 6", secured to the base. T his frame is somewhat higher than the heating elements, and is capped at the top by a sheet metal hood 'i'. The upper ends of the hea-ting elements are anchored in position by two twisted wires 8, the ends of which are fastened to two short rods mounted on the ends of the inelosing frame. The twisted wires are opened at points intermediate of their length to permit inclosure of the to s of the heating elements, as clearlv indicate in Fig. l. On the wires 5, 5 a jacent to the base are pivoted sleeves 9,. 9, 9", 9f, 9, 9, 9*, a corresponda set being provided on each wire. in whic i are ri idlyv mounted the wlres 10, 10. etc., of a fo ding frame, the u per ends of these wires being held together y a wire 11. At two or more points the fixed wires 5* are secured to the yokes 6, 6, 6".

The pivoted folding frame has a slight lateral movement and is held under spring tension by spring 12 acting against a [ixed collar 13, -on the rods 5, 5". One or more projections are foi-ined on one or more of the sleeves 9 adapted to enter in the open and closed positions of the folding frames in notches 14. 14a in the upper part of the yoke 6, all of which will lie clearly understood from an inspection of Fig. 3. The. sleeves 9, 9. etc., are slotted on the inner side to permit of movement around the joint of the wil- Tal?. as clearly indicated in F'gs. 3 and 4. In the base of the fixed socket t? is a mica washer 1.5, on top of which is a contact connecting through a wire with a lead 16 on the underside of the base. A similar wire connects the socket '2 with a corresponding lead 1T. Similar connections are arranged for each socket, and thus the several heating elements are connected in arallel, as shown in Fig. 2, with the leads 6, 1T, which communicate with the two lug terminals 1S, 19 at one end of the baseus it will be seen that the several fused silica tubes inclosing the resistance wire are surrounded by a vertical open-work frame, which protects the clothing of the o erator from contact with the incandescent eatin units when the toaster is in operation an which permits the radiant heat to be directed upon the material in the baskets. The folding frames or baskets may be opened to receive the bread, and then closed thereby automatically latehing in closed position. The tw o terminals 18, 19 will be connected in service by a connecting plug and flexible cord with a source of constant potential cui rent. The s ri 12 should be made of some materia which will retain its elasticity when heated. The resistance wire I may employ is an alloy, such as described in the gictent to Dempster, No. 901,428, dated tober 20, 1908. Then maki toast the frames may be opened to int nce or remove the toast, or reverse its position, or to initially dry it for by an open-work easin having a the bestl condition for the toasting heat. They are then closed and the toasting heat applied. The fumes or smoke given oli by the toast are carried away from the bread by the upwardly ascending currents of air and a delicious product thereby rendered possible. In addition to this, the air cui'- rents keep the wire frame at a relatively low temperature enabling the ap )aratus to be more conveniently handled. ith the resistance wire at a bright red heat and the entire surface of the mclosing silica tubes raised to a red heat, the close relation to the bread to the heat tubes when the baskets are folded permits a very elective operation.

While I have described my invention as applied to toasting it will be evident to t ose skilled in t e art that it is well adapted also to any operation in which radiant heat is essential to a good culinary product, such as broiling, and I, therefore, desire to have it understood that all such operations are within the scope of my claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-

1. An electric cooking utensil, conrising u plurality of electric heaters adapt to be operated at a radiant heat and surrounded lurality of supports for materia to be heate whereby the radiant heat from the several units may be applied simultaneously on two sides in view of the operator.

2. A n electric cooking utensil, comprising a plurality of heatin units inclosed in an open-w Ark casing, said heating units being adapted to run at a radiant heat, and a plurality of baskets on opposite sides of the units to receive the material to be heated.

3. An electric cooking utensil, comprising a plurality of electrically heated units adapted to be operated at a radiant heat ari-an in a line, an openqi-ork wire frame inelosing the heating units and a plurality of baskets on t-wo sides of the umts to receive the material to be heated.

4. An electric cooking utensil, comprising a plurality of heating elements adapted to be operated at radiant heat arranged in a line, an open wire-work frame inclosing the lieatine' units, and two pivoted frames at the sides of the heating units adapted to form baskets to receive the material to be heated.

An electric cookin utensil, com rising a plurality of vert-ica y arranged eating units, an open-work wire cage mclostug the same, and two folding baskets to receive the material to be heated at the sides of the units.

6. An electric cooking utensil, comprising a plurality of vertical, removable, cylindrical heating elements arran ed in line and connected in parallel in relation to a supply u plurality of electric heaters, a

circuit, an open-work cage or frame inclos- In witness whereof, I have hereunto sut ing the same, am?.I two foldilng lsllrets l the my hund this 19th nay of November, 1908. si es to receivet e materia to leat 1 7. A11 electric cooking utensil, comFI-isng u ILLIAM s' ANDREWS' olding Witnesses open-work cage inclosing the same, and a BENJAMIN B. HULL, latch to lock the cage in closed position. HELEN Carolin. 

